Claymore expanding ETF lineup in competitive core space

Claymore Securities Inc. and Wilshire Associates today announced plans for a new core line up of exchange-traded funds based on Wilshire Associates Inc.'s indexes. The new Claymore funds will be the Wilshire 5000 Total Market ETF Ticker:(WFVK), the Wilshire 4500 Completion ETF Ticker:(WXSP), and the Wilshire US. REIT ETF Ticker:(WREI). Claymore plans to submit paperwork to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days to launch additional funds based on Wilshire indexes, said managing director William Belden. He said the firm decided to team up now with Wilshire to provide core equity products because of how well the exchange-traded funds have done in the past 12 months. The 4500 Completion ETF, for example, invests in 88% of the stock market outside of the S&P 500 Index. “Those 4500 stocks outperformed the S&P by 2300 basis points for the year ending March 9,” Mr. Belden said. “People invest in the S&P to capture domestic equity, but they really don't.” Mr. Belden declined to comment on what the next Wilshire-based funds would be, but said the firm is looking at offering an entire lineup of funds. Claymore has traditionally offered ETFs based on niche areas of the market and is going to come up against a lot of very entrenched competition in the core space, said Scott Burns, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. “The index providers all have their different twist on offering core funds, but by and large they are all the same thing,” he said.